COURT FIXES JAN 23 FOR HEARING IN PDP LEADERSHIP DISPUTE

The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed January 23, 2025, for the hearing of an application seeking a stay of further proceedings in the leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The application was filed by the faction of the party led by Kabiru Turaki, in response to a suit instituted by the group aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik adjourned the matter on Wednesday to allow counsel to the plaintiffs, Onyechi Ikpeazu, respond to the application for stay of proceedings.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, was filed by the Wike-aligned PDP faction through its acting National Chairman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, and factional National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to restrain the Turaki-led leadership listed as the 5th to 25th defendant from parading themselves as national officers of the party. They also seek an order stopping the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) from granting the Turaki faction access to the PDP national secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Abuja.
In addition, the plaintiffs are urging the court to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting any office address from the Turaki faction other than the one already in its records. They also want the court to declare that INEC, the police and the DSS are bound to enforce earlier judgments delivered by Justices James Omotosho and Peter Lifu.
Justice Abdulmalik had earlier granted an ex-parte order directing all parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the suit.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the Turaki-led faction filed an appeal and also brought a motion for stay of proceedings, alongside a motion on notice asking the judge to recuse herself on grounds of alleged bias.
When the case was mentioned on Wednesday, Ikpeazu told the court that it had previously ruled that all pending applications would be taken together with the substantive suit and that the plaintiffs were ready to proceed.
However, counsel to the Turaki faction, Chief Chris Uche, informed the court that an appeal against the ex-parte order had already been entered at the Court of Appeal and assigned suit number CA/ABJ/CV/1770/2025.
The judge directed him to file a formal response and adjourned the case to January 23rd for the hearing of the stay application.